Pending Delete

Pending delete is the final stage in the domain lifecycle for most [[tld|TLDs]], occurring after the [[redemption-period|redemption period]] expires without the original [[registrant]] recovering the domain. During pending delete, which typically lasts 5 days for .com and other Verisign-managed TLDs, the domain cannot be registered, transferred, or recovered — not even by the previous owner. After the pending delete period concludes, the domain is released and becomes immediately available for first-come, first-served registration. Domain investors use specialized drop-catching services that submit registration requests at the precise millisecond a domain is expected to be released.